Blog

Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome Plague the New Generation

Childhood obesity has been a growing issue in the United States throughout the last several decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that childhood obesity has doubled in the last 30 years while the obesity rate in adolescents has quadrupled.

Obesity is associated with a wide variety of medical complications such as type 2 diabetes, vascular problems, and heart disease. This medical condition is affected by a larger amount of calories consumed versus calories spent. Behavioral, environmental, and genetic factors relate to the spread of obesity.

This medical condition has been studied extensively in the scientific field. One paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Ram Weiss and colleagues discusses the connections between the metabolic syndrome and obesity in children. The researchers studied insulin resistance and adiponectin levels in a considerably sized group of youth.

Metabolic syndrome is essentially a term for elements that raise one’s risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and similar health conditions, according to the National Institutes of Health. In order to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, one must have at least three of the five following risk factors: (1) large waistline, (2) high triglyceride levels in the blood, (3) low HDL cholesterol rates, (4) high blood pressure, and (5) high fasting blood sugar.

Before Dr. Weiss’ study was started, the children were required to keep to a diet of 250 grams of carbohydrates and abstain from strenuous physical exercise for three days. Once the offspring’s height and weight were measured, BMI levels were accounted for.

A glucose-tolerance assessment was dispensed to more than 400 obese, 31 overweight, and 20 normal-weight children and adolescents. Along with analyzing blood pressure and plasma lipids, the status of C-reactive proteins was also assessed. The blood pressure and cholesterol levels were adjusted for age and gender of each child.

The results of the research show that the existence of metabolic syndrome rose with more serious grades of obesity. In severely obese youth, the pervasiveness of metabolic syndrome approached 50 percent. Insulin resistance also rose with the severity of obesity in children. As obesity levels rose, adiponectin rates fell while C-reactive protein levels increased. Both high C-reactive protein and low adiponectin levels lead to a rise in the risk for blood clots in overweight, insulin-resistant adults.

Essentially, metabolic syndrome is more common in obese offspring and continues to rise with higher rates of the condition. Additionally, these individuals already exhibit biomarkers of a high cardiovascular risk. Metabolic syndrome is also becoming more common among adults as obesity rates increase. It is predicted to bypass smoking as a main cause of heart disease in the future.